Dress Like How You Want To Be Addressed.

If your goal is to be successful, look the part. 

A lot of positive things can happen when you start dressing nicer and bottom line, the outcome is "respect". People give more respect to those who make an effort to dress up and we learn to respect ourselves a bit more. When you make an effort to dress up with clean body + hair,  you are showing respect for the people who are present, your surroundings and the event.  Let’s remember that dressing well doesn’t have to be expensive. You can dress casual but be stylish. You can be stylish no matter your age, shape or size. 

Feb 16, 2018,09:00am EST

Dressing For Success And The Achievement Of Your Dreams

Author: Brandon Vallorani

We’re all familiar with the old adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover." While we aspire to refrain from snap judgments when meeting new people, we should not assume others will always show us this same courtesy.

Studies have long demonstrated that people make a judgment based on their first impression of you within the first seven seconds of interaction. Newer research shows this time frame may be shrinking—along with our attention spans—to a mere five seconds!

This means that whether you’re on a job interview, at a business meeting, or attending a networking event, you have just a few seconds to make a good first impression and establish yourself as the successful person you strive to be.

My son and I recently flew to Houston to pitch a new business opportunity to investors. We wore sharp suits that fit nicely and polished our shoes. When walking through the airport, we received compliments from three different people. Why? Take a look around the next time you go grocery shopping or pass through any airport. Dress standards are so low today that just wearing a nice suit made a contrast against a backdrop of overwhelming mediocrity.

Dress for Success or Failure

Thomas Edison once said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it was dressed in overalls and looks like work." This happens every day: people with great potential are overlooked for growth opportunities because they don’t look, smell, or sound like a million bucks. People don't want to see a work in progress; they want to see success already achieved.

Coco Chanel, the founder of Chanel, once said, "Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman." If you want to be seen as successful and competent, dress the part. That means dressing impeccably each and every time you walk out that door.

We’ve all heard (or experienced) horror stories of interviewees showing up improperly dressed or groomed. Yet it’s not just the interview or the boardroom that can benefit from a higher standard. You never know who you’ll meet and what opportunities might be missed because you didn’t look successful.

Underlying Benefits of Dressing for Success

A recent study shows that people who dress better have more confidence, feel more powerful, and are more focused on details. More importantly, people perceive well-dressed people as leaders, and go to them for support at a faster rate than those not as well dressed.

Even Facebook's own Mark Zuckerberg, who is famous for sporting plain gray t-shirts, understands the power of dressing well. During an important year for Facebook, Zuckerberg made a commitment to wear a tie every day for the entire year. He explained, "My tie was the symbol of how serious and important a year this was and I wore it every day to show this."

Tips for Dressing for Success

The good news is that dressing for success is easier than you think, and you don't have to break the bank in the process. Keep the following tips in mind and you’ll give the impression of success:

• Begin with the basics. Always choose dark socks when wearing dark pants and/or shoes. Your belt should match or coordinate with your shoes. These two simple tips are often missed!
• An often missed note on hygiene. Limit use of cologne/perfume; it’s meant to compliment not overwhelm.
• Keep it simple. Accessories should be just that: extra. Make sure jewelry and belts are not too showy or distracting. If they overwhelm your outfit you can be sure they’ll overwhelm your personality as well.
• Keep it clean. This one is a no-brainer: Clothing should be clean and pressed. But I’ll go one further. Invest in getting a suit that’s been tailored to your build. Nothing looks worse than a too baggy (or too tight) jacket or pants legs that puddle up at the ankles.
• Dress for the occasion. If it calls for black tie on the invitation, they mean a tuxedo not a navy suit. If it’s a more casual event but you’re unsure of the attire, wear a jacket regardless. You can never go wrong by being the best-dressed person in the room.
• Dressing well is more than just clothing. It’s an essential part of your comportment and demeanor. George Washington’s Rules of Civility speak to many forgotten ideals of how one should “carry oneself” and I recommend a brush-up with his concise guide still relevant today.

Academy Award winner Edith Head says, "You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it." There's more truth in this statement than you may think. Start by dressing like the person you want to be and the success you desire will follow.